The lawn in front of Canberra`s parliament hill is full of hail. (Photo by the Daily Telegraph)
Canberra, the Australian capital, plunged 15 minutes of hail at noon today, causing serious damage to parts of the region.
By 2:50 p.m. on monday, the capital`s emergency services had received more than 1,200 calls, and new state emergency services, fire and rescue services and rural fire services had been deployed to help people with roof damage, electricity and local flooding. Two others suffered minor injuries and needed ambulance treatment in the storm.
Authorities has also flown helicopters over the capital to collect data on disaster assessments.
At one point, the hail allegedly caused a power outage for more than 1,000 homes in the area, but power was restored after rush repairs.
The hail storm hit the parliament hill like heavy snow, but fortunately the parliament building was not badly damaged. The worst affected were Belconnen in Canberra North, downtown Canberra and the inner south.
Hundreds of cars had their windshields smashed in the old parliament building, the australian national university (anu) and elsewhere in canberra, and the old parliament building closed to visitors afterwards.
During the hailstorm, Canberra Airport had winds of 117km and rainfall of 2.4mm. In just 10 minutes, Tuggeranong, of the capital`s Southern District, received five millimetres of rain, with a total of nine millimetres over the period.
Southeastern New State meets wild weather
Two visitors were struck by lightning in the Blue Mountains as severe thunderstorms hit Sydney`s west today.
The Met Office has issued warnings for heavy rain, massive hail and damaging winds in the capital territory, a large area from Newcastle`s north to Dubbo and the state border.
Fires on the snowy snowy mountains and south coasts in the new state have dropped much-needed rain in the storm.
A 16-year-old and a 24-year-old man have been taken to hospital after being struck by lightning near Echo Point in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains towards 2:00pm today.
Among them, the 16-year-old`s arms, feet have multiple wounds, the body has multiple burn marks. The 24-year-old man was struck by lightning while leaning against a metal pole. Both were admitted to the Nepean Hospital after the incident and are in stable condition.
Monday morning`s forecast showed hail, gale-force winds and a long-awaited downpour by firefighters across much of southeastern New State.
The new state, which runs north of Newcastle to the coastal state`s border with Victoria, as well as Wagga Wagga in the western part of the state and Tumbarumba, are likely to see heavy rains, the Met Office said on Monday morning.
The Met Office also issued strong wind warnings to much of the coast of the new state.
Yesterday`s devastating gale-force weather in central new state triggered a dust storm covering the sun. Videos posted on social media showed dust storms hitting Dubbo and its nearby towns, making the day dark.
Parkes recorded winds of up to 94km/h at around 6.30pm yesterday, and at 7.45pm, Dabo recorded winds of up to 107km/h, the bureau said.
Dabo suffered a sandstorm yesterday. (Photo by Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Yesterday`s heavy rainfall was concentrated in the centre and north of the new state, as well as east of range, according to meteorologist Rose Barr.
The north-central coast of the new state and many small towns in the northern river basin recorded 100 to 180 millimetres of rain Sunday between 9 a.m. and 10:30 p.m.
In the southern part of the new state, strong winds mean the storm will soon cross, and the actual measured rainfall is not too high.
Rain brings good news to drought-ridden areas and helps firefighters prevent forest fires from spreading, and build fire lines before the danger rises a few days later.
"Thunderstorms are expected to be very active, especially in the south-eastern and eastern parts of the new state, as well as in parts of the south-west hillside," Bal said. "
Winds are expected to change in the middle of the week, more from the north and west, making Wednesday and Thursday`s air drier and warmer.
"This means that these two days we may see the danger of the forest fire rise again and cause more trouble to our fire department," Barr said. "
But Friday and the weekend are expected to bring rain back to the new state.
The new state is experiencing an unprecedented forest fire season. By the end of last week,21 people had been killed.
